Chapter 60

Frang and Stuart came rushing back as soon as they heard Isobel fainted, Teárlag coming more slowly behind them.

"What's wrong?" Frang asked. "What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything to her. She fainted. She found out she was pregnant."

Frang stared at Ailene, stunned.

"Pregnant! When has she had sex? How can she be pregnant?" He asked.

"She was married, Frang. They had sex."

"Wouldn't she have known before now?"

Ailene explained, "The most obvious way to tell is from changes is a woman's cycle. She said her courses were irregular during her marriage, as is often the case for women who are starved. Other than that, the most obvious tell is when a woman's belly and breasts begin to swell, but she's gained weight anyway because she was getting food. Some women get morning sickness, although it's not always morning when they experience it, but usually not until six or more weeks after conception. I suspect she's about seven weeks along. She said her husband had sex with her the day before the card game, passing her off to another as well."

"God damn that rotten bastard to hell!" Frang fumed. "No wonder the poor lass fainted. Wait! The strapping. You don't think the child was injured do you?"

"We whacked her ass, not her stomach," Ailene replied, "so I doubt the child was injured, but it might explain why she was so short tempered with Jinny this morning. Feeling ill and out of sorts. We probably would have given her a pass had we known. I'm glad the maid asked Thorburn for mercy. Why don't you two louts help me get her up to her room instead of leaving her here on the floor."

"We'll not hurt the bairn if we move her, will we?" Stuart asked.

"Women are a lot stronger than that. Many women continue to work in the fields until they deliver. You can move her without damage provided you don't run her head into a wall."

Frang picked her up under her shoulders and Stuart took her legs and they carried her up the two flights of stairs to her room, laying her carefully on the bed.

"Bring a hand basin with fresh cold water and a clean cloth, Frang," Ailene ordered. "Stuart, why don't you get Thorburn. I imagine there will be much to discuss when she wakens."

After they left, Teárlag said, "I should come here more often. I've never been entertained so differently and so thoroughly as I've been since arriving here."

"It's not usually like this," Ailene said, smiling.

"Aye, I would hope not. I'm sure I would faint too, of exhaustion. Trying to keep up with everything since my arrival has my head spinning. Can I ask a question?"

"About what?"

"Why concern yourself with Lady McTavish slapping a maid? I know you say you're being just to the servants, and you help ensure their loyalty and devotion, but why bother. They have no other place to go; nowhere to turn. Anywhere else is just as bad. Why concern yourself for justice for servants at all?"

"It's been this way for many years. Jamison Cameron was a man of varied interests and he read the works of Voltaire, men named Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in the American colonies, economic treatises by Adam Smith, sundry discourses on slavery and indentured servitude. He believed there was a better way to manage and treat people. What developed here at Cameron Keep is the result of various changes he made as a result of his study. I admit my family was much the same as you describe yourself, but the results of his changes are remarkable. We do much better than our neighbors on the same quality of land, despite taking less from our tenants. They are asked to tithe to their Laird only. They keep the rest. They are happier, wealthier, and though we take a smaller share, we receive more. Ten percent of wealthy, productive people is better than any amount from poorer. We provided for McTavish's people when he could not, despite his grasping for every farthing and starving them all."

Their conversation ended when Frang returned with the water, followed shortly by Stuart and Thorburn. Ailene dipped the cloth in water and wringing it out, set it on Isobel's brow. She repeated this step a few more times before Isobel opened her eyes. She saw five pairs of eyes staring down at her and realized she wasn't waking from sleep.

"I feel I've been dreaming, more a nightmare, really," Isobel said. "What happened?"

"You fainted, dear," Ailene replied.

Isobel felt the burning sensation from the spanking on her ass. "It wasn't a dream, was it? I'm pregnant."

"I'm afraid so," Ailene said.

Huge tears started rolling down her cheeks to the bed below.

"It's not as bad as you may think, dear Isobel," Ailene said. "We're all here to support you."

"I thought I was done with that man forever. Now I'm carrying his child. How could it be any worse?"

Stuart said, "It's only his if you're not married to another man when the bairn is born."

"What do you mean?" Isobel asked.

"A child is presumed to be the child of the man you're married to when it's born."

"I'll marry you, Isobel. I'll claim the child as my own," Frang said.

"Brother," Thorburn said, "are you sure you want to do that? Tis an awful responsibility to raise another man's child."

"It may not even be McTavish's child, Frang," Ailene added. "Isobel said her husband shared her with other men including one the day before the card game."

"Each of our Mother's, save Thorburn's, helped raise children not her own, and did a marvelous job of it. If they could lavish their love on another woman's child, I can do the same for another man's."

"I appreciate your offer, Frang. I really do, but you know how I feel about sharing a bed with another man or marrying a gambler. I'm unsure I should change my mind because I'm carrying a child now."

"When is the child due?" Frang asked.

"If our suppositions are correct, the bairn should be born in January, around the end of the month. It could be earlier if the conception occurred before," Ailene said.

"I'd like a few minutes to speak to Isobel alone, please," Frang said.

He waited until they all left her room, then sat beside Isobel, holding her hand.

"I know the reasons you don't want to marry again and I'm sorry for all you've gone through in your life. However you feel about men and marriage after the life you've led, you don't want to be raising a child on your own. On top of that, it's possible McTavish could claim the child as his and take it away from you. I am willing to make the following offer to you. If you marry me, I will not expect you to share my bed unless or until you are ready to do so. As far as gambling is concerned, I vow to you I won't do anything to risk the safety or comfort of you or the child ever."

"You would forgo all sexual relations with me while we're married? Why would you do that?"

"I admire you, Isobel, more than you know. I'm attracted to you. I have never felt about another what I feel for you. Your strength, your beauty, your kindness and consideration all commend you to me. I've only known you for seven weeks but feel I've known you forever. I believe you might come to love me. I'm willing to wait a long time for you to realize how much I care for you and for you to return my love. It's the gambler in me." He smiled down at her.

"And if I never change my mind? If I'm unwilling to ever enter your bed? What then? Will you forgo sex forever?"

"If after two years, you are still unwilling to seek my bed, I will take other lovers. I promise to be discrete and protect your reputation as best I can. I will continue to support you and the child."

"Frang, are you certain? It's a lot to ask of you," Isobel said.

"You're not asking it of me, I'm asking it of you. It's a risk I'm willing to take because I could not ask for a better wife if you find it in your heart to love me. You're a woman of passion and fire and beauty, and to be with you, I would dare much."

"Then I say yes, you foolish man. I will marry you."

She lifted his hands to her lips and kissed them. "Thank you."

"Thank you, Isobel. I will ensure you never have reason to regret your decision."